PARISH councils across Dorset could be axed if members refuse to sign up to a new code of conduct.

New Government legislation now requires parish councillors to declare financial interests, including their employment details and any gifts over the value of £25 - or lose their membership.

But some parishioners think the requirements are an insult to their privacy and have refused to sign on the dotted line.

So far, at least four parish workers have stepped down and three councils have voted not to adopt the new rules.

Ann Martin, who has served on Portesham Parish Council for seven years, is one of those who decided to resign.

She said: "It's a nightmare situation, because I do not like to stand down.

"Working on the parish council is voluntary, you do not get expenses, not even the cost of a phone call or a second class stamp. Now I feel like all my work has been thrown in my face.

"Why should I declare in a public document any interests I have? If I was earning £50,000 as an MP it would be a different kettle of fish, but I think it's an invasion of my privacy."

As a mark of protest, Philippa Roper is also stepping down from the parish council in Chesil Bank.

She said: "My husband has just retired and I was thinking of resigning anyway, so we could spend more time together.

"But this pre-empted my decision, because I think it's dreadful to have your business paraded around the parish, especially when you are doing a voluntary job."

Parish councillors who do not sign up by June 5 are automatically assumed to have adopted the code and are still expected to register their financial interests within 28 days.

Members who refuse to toe the line will eventually lose their seats.

If new councillors are not co-opted on to parish groups, public apathy about local elections has sparked fears that parish councils will wither away, erasing the UK's 'grassroots' democracy.

Blandford St Mary parish clerk Jill Williams said: "Only one of our councillors voted to sign the code and the rest refused. It's really quite worrying."

Training development officer for the National Association of Local Councils Annabel Middlemass said: "If councillors are resigning they obviously have something to hide. They really should not be on a parish council if they are not willing to be open."

Margaret Bleszynska, of the Dorset Association of Parish and Town Councils, said: "We support the code. The register of interests means standards are improved and it makes things more transparent."